SGPC asks Gen to free Sarabjit

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee today appealed to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to pardon Sarabjit Singh who faces death p...

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee today appealed to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to pardon Sarabjit Singh who faces death penalty in Pakistan.

In a letter to the General, SGPC members Kuldeep Singh Bhogal and Harinder Pal Singh requested for Sarabjit’s release so that the ‘‘Indian people are beholden to him and Indo-Pak friendly ties would get a boost’’. The SGPC members handed over a copy of the letter to deputy high commissioner Munnawar Hussein Bhatti here. ‘‘We appealed to General Musharraf to release Sarabjit Singh in the name of humanity,’’ Bhogal said.

‘‘He (Sarabjit) had crossed over to Pakistan 15 years ago when there was no fence on the border and such straying on both sides was common,’’ the letter says. ‘‘Now the climate between India and Pakistan has changed. If you pardon and release him, it would evoke appreciation of the people of India for Pakistan.’’

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The letter added that his family were struggling to make ends meet. ‘‘He has been mistaken for and wrongly accused of being a RAW agent. He belongs to a village of Punjab,’’ the letter said. ‘‘This small step of granting pardon to an innocent man will go a long way towards maintaining and

promoting goodwill and peace between the two countries,’’ it said.

‘Don’t pardon him’

KARACHI: Pakistan’s main grouping of hardline Islamists on Thursday urged President Pervez Musharraf not to pardon Sarabjit Singh, saying it would be a sign of weakness on the part of Pakistan. Munawar Hassan, secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest party in a six-party Islamist opposition alliance, said even to talk about pardoning the spy was an insult to the nation. —Reuters